Max & Hope at School • A Great Day

I set my clock for 6:45AM. I was in the shower and on the road shortly after 7. A bit of of rush hour traffic, but not too bad. A beautiful drive across the mountains, snow capped with the smell of spring in the air.



I got to the kids school and was very excited to see them.



After checking in at the office I visited Hope's First Grade classroom with Mrs. Clasen. Hope was very happy to see me, she ran right over. I knelt down and she game me a big hug and kiss. It's been four months since I've seen the kids and this moment brought a tear to my eye.



In their classroom they had an incubator with some eggs that were in the process of hatching, so the kids were all busy making chick hats. After they finished with their hats it was time to do some work with counting and money. The kids broke off into groups of two and got these game boards out that had a spinner, money cards with pictures of coins on it and two boxes that said more or less. Each student picked a card and cointed the money, 12 cents on this card 25 cents on this one, they had to put them on the appropriate box that said more or less. Then they spinned the spinner that was either directed towards More or Less. Whoever won, got to keep those two cards and on and on. Nice game.



When this class ended the kids had a mini recess before music class. I stayed behind to talk to Hope's teacher. She filled me in on how Hope has been doing. Miss Clasen having come from a divorced family herself, knows first hand the challenges and dynamics that this unfortunate situation can create. It was good to talk to her and get a feel for what's going on in Hope's life, from an adult perspective who see's her almost every day. Moira won't say a word to me and continues to insist on all communication being filtered through her lawyer. Such a shame.



Shot this pic between two buildings outside of Hope's classroom. After running around on the playground with Hope and her friends playing freeze tag, we lined up to go into music class. Neat program, the kids all played and the song was recorded. Afterwards we listened to the tape and the kids evaluated what the did good and what could use some more work. Cool.



After music I went over to Mrs. Ristine's 3rd grade class to visit with Max. Like Hope, Max was very excited to see his dad. He gave me a big hug and a big kiss. He had a picture that he made and presented it to me. It was a drawing of us doing a magic show together. He was doing his card trick and I was doing the cups and balls. How sweet is that. It breaks my heart that Moira robs me of so much time with our children. But that's what she wants, and that's where we're at, and that's life. . . at least my life and the lives of Max, Hope & Liam.



I ate luch with Max played tag with him and his pals at recess and threw the football with him. After recess it was time to go on the field trip! The kids had watched their salmon eggs hatch and little fish grow. Now it was time to release them and let them start to get strong enough for their 500 mile journey to the ocean.



Here's Max and his buddies wainting in line to get a fish to release.











There were several activity areas that the kids rotated. At the first area we learned about the different habitats that the salmon encounter. We discussed what makes a healthy or unhealthy environment for the fish to live and how their habitat can help them hide from predators. Next the kids played a game where half the group were predators (Max wanted to be an eagle) and the other half were salmon. It was like flag football in two different areas. One with trees and one without. THis was to demonstrate how salmon in a healty habitat hide from predators.









We learned the difference between horns and antlers. Horns are permanent and anlters fall off and grow back each year. To this day though, I have never seen the elusive horned salmon. I know I'm horny.



We planted some trees along the stream bank.



. . . and back to school.



I had been leaving messages and emails for a week with Moira and her lawyer about possibly having the kids after school and taking them out for some fun and then dinner. Since they didn't respond to even one of my requests, I knew that wasn't going to happen, but I was still hopeful. Moira was going to pick Max up at school and while he was hugging me asked if he could stay with me. She was standing several feet from me but wouldn't make eye contact or say a word to me. Max asked again, she looked at him and said, "That's not a choice".

I'm glad I got to see the kids on my terms. I'm also grateful to have had the opportunity to talk with the kid's teachers and get a better idea of how they're doing. Their doing fine, and I'm happy.

I really would have liked to see Liam even for a few minutes when she picked up Max. But I knew she wouldn't. I drove two hours back over the mountains, enjoyed the ride and slid back in town barely beating rush hour. Wonderful day!